Grizzlies to open reduced schedule on Dec. 26 at San Antonio

The Grizzlies defeated the Spurs in the first round of the 2011 NBA playoffs. They'll meet again to open the season on Dec. 26.

The Grizzlies will begin the 2011-12 regular season against their playoff opponents from last season.

Memphis plays at San Antonio on Dec. 26 to tip off the season and then hosts Oklahoma City Dec. 28 for its home opener in FedExForum, according to the NBA's official 66-game schedule that was released Tuesday night.

Memphis, which upset San Antonio in the first round of the 2011 playoffs before losing to Oklahoma City in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, will play seven of its first 12 contests in FedExForum.

Despite minor revisions to a first draft that was obtained by The Commercial Appeal earlier this week, the Grizzlies' final schedule still does not include home games against LeBron James and the Miami Heat or Kevin Garnett's Boston Celtics.

Memphis will play Boston (Feb. 5) and Miami (April 6) on the road. The Griz have three games against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers with only one meeting scheduled for FedExForum on March 13.

Although Memphis plays each Eastern Conference team at least once, it will see Detroit, Toronto and Chicago twice. The Griz play 48 games against Western Conference teams and 18 against East opponents.

The Grizzlies' season finale is April 26 against Orlando in FedExForum. The defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks' first visit to FedExForum is Feb. 29.

Memphis will appear on national television a franchise-record 10 times this season (three on ESPN, two on TNT, five on NBA TV), including the 10th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Game against the Chicago Bulls at noon on Jan. 16. The Griz also are scheduled for a nationally-televised (TNT) home game against New York on Jan. 12.

Memphis has 18 back-to-back sets and just one back-to-back-to-back series this season. There are two four-game road trips on the schedule and a season-long, five-game home stand from Feb. 6-14.

In scheduling highlights from around the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers will play games on the first three nights of the NBA season, the first of 42 back-to-back-to-back sets teams will face during this lockout-shortened season.

The schedule requires every team to play on three consecutive nights at least once. And it will force every team to navigate demanding stretches that are never seen during a full season, such as the nine games in 12 nights the Atlanta Hawks face starting with their Dec. 27 opener.

The league's 66th season begins with five games on Christmas, including the Lakers hosting the Chicago Bulls. Los Angeles then visits Sacramento the next night before returning home to host Utah on Dec. 27.

The league did preserve its most storied rivalry, with the Lakers traveling to Boston for a Feb. 9 matchup before the Celtics open a stretch of eight road games in 13 nights in March with games on back-to-back nights at Staples Center.

Dallas and Miami also will play twice, following their Christmas NBA finals rematch with a March 12 game in Miami.

The Heat and Lakers also play two games.

The 50-game 1999 season featured 64 sets of back-to-back-to-backs and was plagued by sloppy basketball being played on fatigued legs. The NBA faces a similar predicament now after failing to reach a new labor deal in time to save the Nov. 1 start to the season.

Instead, a tentative agreement was reached on Nov. 26. Lawyers for the owners and players are still finalizing the rest of the deal, with both sides expected to vote on it Thursday before training camps and free agency open on Friday.

Aging teams such as the Celtics, Lakers and NBA champion Mavericks will have to pace themselves, while younger teams such as the Grizzlies and Oklahoma City figure to be better prepared for the grind.

"You're not going to have those breaks of three or four days that you sometimes got in the old 82-game schedule, when it was the normal regular schedule," former Grizzlies coach and current NBA analyst Mike Fratello said during the schedule announcement on NBA TV. "Now with everything being compacted, games come that much more quickly, you've got to gear up back up again, you move onto the next one immediately."

The Denver Nuggets, hit hard by free agency with three of their players in China, face another difficult obstacle in the schedule. They play five games in six nights spanning the new year, including a home-and-home set with the Lakers on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.